Qatar Tribune aims for number one position

The Qatar Tribune, which is published by Dar Al Watan Publishing, launched last week and is planning to aggressively target the existing English titles, Gulf Times and The Peninsula.

The 48-page daily, which is published seven days a week, is made up of five sections that include local and international news, business sport and entertainment.

In response to its launch both the Gulf Times and The Peninsula, which previously published six days a week, have both started producing an extra weekend edition.

Tribune editor Ajit Kumar Jha said there was a need for a quality English daily in Qatar and claimed that newspaper readership was low in the state because people had no strong allegiances to individual titles.

"In Qatar people do not have a strong loyalty to any particular newspaper. We feel there is a gap in the market for a quality English language daily that can provide them with what they want.

"I don't think it will take more than a year to become the number one paper in Doha. The response so far has been extremely positive."

The paper is priced at two Qatari Riyals and is being produced by a team of 60 drawn from both Europe and the sub-continent.

Hamad Bin Suhaim Al Thani, chairman of the board at Dar Al Watan Publishing, said the paper, which is the sister title of Arabic daily Al Watan, would be an "English daily with a Qatari heart".